Harry Potter: The End
by anraba
Summary: Voldemort may be dead but the war's not over. The MoM and Hogwarts face the daunting task of rebuilding the wizarding world. H/G, R/Her must move on and learn to live normal lives. Not an easy task when... Chap 2-UP IN FULL
1. Chapter One: The Elephant House

**Skip to the non-bold for the story if you're in a rush, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd come back and read my authors notes.**

**Hello potential readers this is my first go at writing fanfiction! So I thought it would be a good idea to provide some background about myself and where I want to go with this story.**

**I love reading and writing and have been doing so since I was kid. The first book I ever loved was Harry Potter (all hail Queen Rowling). Anyway, I guess I've been going through some kind of Harry Potter withdrawal because I've been scouring the web for Harry Potter fanfic. So far I've managed to sate my Potter addiction by reading and waiting for the films. But now that those are over, reading fanfic just doesn't cut it for me anymore.**

**I think I've started this story to help myself grieve over the end of the Potter series. This story is sort of my way of looking out for the characters that I've loved since I was a kid. I suppose I want to see them into young adulthood. I'm not going to be ready to part with them until I've seen them though a few more hardships and know that they are dealing with the aftermath of war well. So Rowling fans, I call upon you to join me as I say goodbye to the world of Potter with one last hurrah! ;)**

_Chapter 1_

_The Elephant House_

Minerva McGonagall sat in the headmasters' office with no small sense of discomfort. She'd always been an ambitious young witch and had often dreamt that one day the role of headmistress would be hers. But she never could have imagined the post would come to her like this. In her mind's eye she'd envisioned a wonderful celebration in which a wizened but spritely old Dumbledore in ridiculously colourful robes would suddenly announce his desire to dedicate the remainder of his life to collecting muggle candies; an ambition that would unfortunately take him away from his role as headmaster and leave the school in her hands. Of course, there had been a significant amount of trepidation as to whether or not she could live up to the greatness of her mentor but she always knew Dumbledore had every confidence in her to lead Hogwarts into a new era of success. But instead of such happy circumstances, she was taking over after the death of not only Dumbledore but Severus Snape as well; becoming headmistress at the end of a war so destructive that there was barely any school left to preside over. As she waited for the rest of the staff to assemble in her office, she watched as Dumbledore dozed quietly in his portrait, his glasses so far down the bridge of his nose they looked in danger of falling out of the paintings frame.

"Minerva?" the muffled voice of the school nurse floated towards her.

"Come in Poppy."

From behind the heavy oaken doors came the frail frame of the school nurse. But McGonagall knew that it held within it a woman of great strength and courage. The last year had proven this to her.

"Has Slughorn finished the dreamless sleep potion?" she immediately questioned.

"Yes, I've just administered it to the patients that have been having particular trouble falling asleep."

McGonagall glanced back at Poppy before asking, "Dennis Creevey?"

"Finally asleep," Pomfrey replied and the two women simultaneously let out a sigh of relief. McGonagall had been particularly disturbed at the news that Dennis Creevey had been discovered outside the grounds in a state of shock, disturbingly close to the spot that his brother's dead body had been found. McGonagall wondered if he had seen it happen, but there was no way to know as he hadn't moved or spoken since the battle ended four days ago. He had been levitated to one of the impromptu tents that Flitwick had conjured for the injured to rest in. The hospital wing had reached full capacity and there was very little inside the castle that wasn't in complete ruins. But it was a relief to know that the eyes that had been staring unblinkingly at the tent walls these past few days were finally shut and resting.

"How are the rest of your potion stores, Poppy?"

"There's still plenty of blood replenishing potion, burn healing paste and skelegro. Hagrid's still in London buying more wound healing potion and I asked him to pick up bruise paste if he can find it. Slughorn says he'll have more of the anti-paralysis and restoration ready by late tomorrow. Revive will be ready within a few days, but some of the more complicated antidotes won't be ready for at least a week. He's working on getting a few bezoars-"

"Not anymore," came the triumphant voice of Slughorn, as he entered with Sprout behind him, "I've managed to find a couple more bezoars. Had to call in quite a few favours to get them, mind you," he added with the quirk of a brow.

"We don't need to know how you procured them Professor Slughorn, just make sure you put them to good use."

"Of course, Headmistress," replied Slughorn solemnly as Flitwick, the final head of house brushed under his large belly and into the office.

"Kingsley will be reconnecting the floo network for a short while so he can speak with us," McGonagall immediately announced. "Before he arrives I want to know how everything is progressing. Poppy, Pomona, Horace how are the injured?"

"Well..." began Poppy, "I think as well as can be expected. We're doing the best we can with what we have. Professor Sprout and Professor Slughorn have been most helpful with keeping the hospital well supplied with potions and antidotes. Most of the survivors are recovering quite well physically it's just...we're having trouble getting through to some of them."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, Dennis isn't the only one that's having trouble recovering from the shock. A lot of the patients have become very subdued and withdrawn. Of course, it's to be expected after such an ordeal and it'll take many of them years to move past what they've been through, but I wonder if it would be a good idea to help things along a bit?" she gazed around the room unsurely.

"You mean a euphoria potion?" Sprout questioned.

"Perhaps," Poppy glanced at Minerva asking her approval.

"I don't think a euphoria potion would be appropriate just yet Poppy. But I'll see if I can get the house elves to slip a few drops of invigoration potion into the foo-"

McGonagall was drowned out by the sudden crackling of an emerald fire. As she turned towards it the strong dark face of Kingsley Shacklebolt appeared within.

"Headmistress," he greeted in his smooth baritone as he smiled up at the room's occupants.

"Minister," she replied with a twitch of the lips.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," chuckled Shacklebolt, "I'm only acting minister; filling in on a job too daunting for anyone else to consider".

McGonagall offered a small smile in sympathy. She felt a certain sense of camaraderie, being left in a similar situation. She wasn't sure how she would rebuild Hogwarts from its ruins. But she did know that like Shacklebolt she would not rest until the job was done, "How is the situation at the Ministry?" she asked.

"Disaster. The ministry's destroyed; a total mess. But I don't even have the time to focus on anything like infrastructure or finance. I've been busy putting together a team that are working on rounding up any last death eaters. But we don't have enough of a magical law enforcement squad left to handle such a task. Even if we did have the manpower to bring in all of Voldemort's supporters it would take us months to fairly try them and in the meantime we'd have trouble keeping them at Azkaban safely. The Dementors have gotten out of hand, feeding on all that despair when Voldemort was in power. They aren't as eager to stay at Azkaban and act as prison guards anymore. They've become too used to acting recklessly these last few months. Going into non-magical parts of England and preying on Muggles up and down the country."

"If you need help Kingsley, you only need ask".

"No, no. I didn't mean to worry you. Leave the Ministry matters to me, you need to focus on Hogwarts. You're already taking a great weight off my shoulders in agreeing to oversee the restoration of the school," he smiled gratefully towards her and changed the topic before she could dismiss his thanks, "To business now. Will you be reopening the school in September?"

"I haven't yet come to a final decision. I know we all want to," she received nods of agreement from the other heads of house. "But," she sighed, "the damage Kingsley, I don't know that we'll able to repair it in such a short time."

"We won't be able to," confirmed Flitwick, "some of the magic in place takes years to build up. And some of it we won't be able to reinstate because it was done by the founders and we've simply never known how. The moving staircases were done by Ravenclaw herself and I'm at a loss as to how she managed them".

"But surely we don't need a castle with thousand year old enchantments to teach?" exclaimed Slughorn, "All we need are teachers and students."

"I agree," chimed Sprout, "perhaps we should just focus on restoring classrooms and teaching facilities at the moment, maybe then we can still reopen".

"Yes, but even just repairing the classrooms will take extensive work that I'm not sure we are capable of doing in a few months. On top of that we've lost a number of staff. We may have a small chance of finding a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in time. But I doubt we'll find anybody willing to take on the Muggle Studies post just yet. Not after what happened to Professor Burbage".

"But surely now that You-Know-," started Sprout, but after a pointed look from McGonagall she began again, "I mean now that V-Voldemort's really gone nobody would be worried of teaching such a subject".

"Pomona, I wish that were true but it's just too soon. The war may be over but the fears will be with us all for much longer," McGonagall reasoned.

"Yes," agreed Shacklebolt, "and it certainly doesn't help matters when Voldemort's supporters are still out there".

For a moment McGonagall was weighed down by the enormity of the two wars she had lived through. By the magnitude of their destruction and the awful knowledge that though they were over, there would always be the possibility of another. There would always be wizards out there that would believe in the superiority of bloodlines. She could only hope that they would never amass such support and power again.

The conversation broke into her thoughts once more, "Aside from the classes and the teachers we also have to worry about the students," Flitwick paused a moment, "that is if they decide to come back. If they do we face an enormous logistical problem. Who will we ask back and how will we run classes? Keep in mind many students have been in hiding and missed out on a year of education. Not that those that were here were any better off. This last year they've been taught magic completely inappropriate which means the majority of them will have to repeat a year. Then we will have double the number of senior students as well as double the number of first years. If students decide to return to Hogwarts how will we feed and accommodate them? The Ravenclaw and Gryffindor towers are nothing but rubble."

The room was left in silence. Up until now, reopening had seemed a hopeful possibility if enough hard work was put in. But as McGonagall thought to herself she realised that even if the entire staff of Hogwarts and a great number of the ministry utilised as many wands as possible it was still a hopeless case.

Shacklebolt broke the silence, "I think perhaps I have a few ideas..."

_The Elephant House is one of the cafes where J K Rowling would have a cup of coffee and spend time writing 'The Philosophers' Stone'._

**Let me know what you think of the story so far?**

**Wow, I'm getting readers from all over the globe. **

**WHERE ARE YOU reading from? Let me know some interesting facts about where you are and I'll share them in the next chapter as a way for us all to get to know each other ;)**

**I'll start, I'm in Australia. And contrary to popular belief, there aren't kangaroos jumping around in the city. Thank god, cause those things can support their whole body weight on their tail. Then they'll lean back and use the claws on their feet to disembowel you. If you're ever out in the country, don't get too close...**


	2. Chapter Two

**Welcome back!**

**I can tell you that you are joined by readers from: Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Philippines, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Argentina, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Finland, Chile, Belgium, Pakistan, Poland, Brazil, Ireland, Austria, New Zealand, Germany, Canada, France, United Kingdom, Australia and the United States :) **

**But nobody left me a single fun fact about their country :( **

**But what a smorgasbord!**

_Chapter 2_

_Otters and Terriers_

Ginny was in that strange place between sleep and wakefulness. She could feel that there was something grazing her side tracing soft circles, but she was not yet awake enough to care what it could be let alone comprehend it. That was until that something spoke to her.

"Gin?" it whispered, "are you awake?"

"No," she whispered, "Go back to sleep, Harry".

"I can't. The sun's up, I've got to get back to Ron's room".

"Hmpf? No, stay with me," she all but demanded as she pulled herself closer to Harry so she could use him as a pillow.

He chuckled back at her, "Alright, better make the most of it then," he said as he pressed his lips against hers, "Cause when your mum comes in, I'm pretty sure she'll make this visit my last".

She was somewhat annoyed by Harry's need to speak when she wanted to be kissed, so it took her a moment to process what he'd just said. Once she realised he was right she fell back onto the bed with a sigh, "Fine, leave me. See if I care...But one last kiss before you go."

"Happy to oblige," he responded with a laugh. And oblige her he did. Afterward, he left Ginny's room in his invisibility cloak and made his way up the stairs, remembering to miss the ones that creaked. When he reached Ron's door he tapped two fast taps and two slow taps. One day into his stay at the Burrow he had decided it a necessary precaution. A few moments later, the door creaked slowly open and he entered. When it was closed again, he let the cloak fall and took in Hermione's dishevelled appearance. To his amusement her hair was looking much bushier than usual.

"I like your hair today, Hermione," he grinned.

"Oh, shut up, she replied, grabbing the cloak from him and putting it on.

From his bed Ron chuckled along with Harry. But in an effort to be a dutiful boyfriend to Hermione he came to her defence, "that's getting a bit old now don't you think?"

"You know what Ron, I think your right. Maybe tomorrow morning I should make some comment about the state of her nightgown instead. Maybe how crumpled they are around her-Bloody hell, Hermione!"

Ron fell to the floor laughing as he watched Harry hop around on one foot, clutching onto the other in pain.

"I hope you feel a bit awful for that Hermione," Harry scowled, "I mean I had no idea that was coming. Bit unfair don't you think?"

The door opened and closed, but not before Harry caught a muttered, "Serves you right".

Harry turned to see Ron had made his way back into an upright position.

As Ron headed to his dresser, Harry went to his trunk and they both dressed before going down to breakfast. Mrs. Weasley was in the kitchen making mountains of food as usual. Ron took a seat between Hermione and Percy while Harry sat opposite greeting Charlie and Mr Weasley as he sat in the space between them. Harry began to pile his plate with an assortment of bacon, eggs, toast and a bowl of porridge.

"Hermione dear" Mrs Weasley was saying, forcing her to look away from Ron. "Was Ginny up when you left her room this morning?"

"Yes Mrs Weasley, she shouldn't be much longer".

"Yes, well. She's been sleeping in an awful lot lately. Of course, she's never been a morning person, but it's starting to get a bit excessive. If she's not down soon I'll have to go back up and check she hasn't fallen asleep again...Oh Morning Ron, Harry. Did we sleep well?" asked Mrs Weasley, as she turned from the stove and piled some more pieces of bacon onto their plates.

Harry swallowed before replying, "Fine thanks, Mrs Weasley".

"Good. Ron, are you planning on visiting George today?"

"Uh, no Mum. I reckon we should probably give him a bit of space for now".

"I suppose," she replied faintly. An uncomfortable silence settled across the table as they remembered the events from last night. Mrs Weasley had prepared a feast for the whole family out in the garden of the Burrow. Bill and Fleur had come by especially as it was the first family gathering they'd had since Fred's death a couple weeks ago. The family had been avoiding it for some time, but they could put it off no longer. Molly Weasley had made sure that everyone would be in attendance. The night had been spent in a state of forced cheer, as the family tried to ignore Fred's absence. George was trying especially hard to crack jokes and laugh raucously, but it was obvious he wasn't enjoying himself. Nothing quite reached his eyes anymore, but the rest of the family was resolved to humour him until he was ready to talk about the war. He'd left Hogwarts as soon as Madame Pomfrey had discharged him and returned to what was now his flat above his store in Diagon Alley. Ginny and Ron had visited a number of times over the past week, and every time they'd return with the news that he'd spent the entire day working at the shop with "that awful smile plastered on his face". But last night it had finally fallen. Molly Weasley had been dishing out her trifle when she burst suddenly into tears as George handed her his bowl. She wailed that they both looked so alike and George had immediately dropped his bowl, shattering it into many jagged pieces. His smile fell briefly but he quickly replaced it before joking half-heartedly, "Yeah, but at least now you only need to remember one name," which only increased the decibel of Mrs Weasley's sobs. He'd left after that.

Charlie cleared his throat and made an attempt to change the topic to the relief of everyone present, "What's in the Prophet today Dad?"

"Hmm? Oh," Mr Weasley replied while turning a page, "there's going to be a mass funeral service in Hogsmeade in a few days. They're also planning on erecting a memorial to honour those that died in the war. That way the dead whose bodies are too...mutilated to bury will still be honoured. We'll have to make sure we remember the date".

"Of course," agreed Percy in a strained voice, with Fred clearly in his mind.

Thankfully there came another two disturbances in the form of a tawny brown owl swooping through the kitchen window as Ginny squeezed between Harry and Charlie.

"Letters from Hogwarts" Percy announced as he immediately handed them out, "for Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny. Oh and Charlie as well."

Harry tore his letter open and two pieces of parchment fell to his lap. He picked up the first.

_Dear Students,_

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has suffered significant damage from the Battle of Hogwarts. However, we are confident that the school will be ready to resume as usual in September. _

_We are looking for student volunteers to come and assist in the rebuilding process. If you are able to lend your help please respond with your availability via private owl where possible, as we are currently short of school owls._

_During your volunteer period you may arrive through apparition to Hogsmeade. Please note that we have also made available the option for you to stay on school grounds in tent accommodation. If this is preferable please let us know so that we can have a bed ready for you._

_Kindest Regards, Minerva McGonagall (Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry)_

Harry looked up to see that Hermione had finished reading both letters and was waiting impatiently for everyone else to, "We'll go" he stated aloud.

"Of course," Ginny replied nearly through her second letter. Hermione nodded a moment later.

"They've invited me to help out too," explained Charlie, at Percy's raised eyebrows, "they must know that I've decided not to go back to Romania just yet".

"Yes, I might have mentioned to the Minister that you were staying to help. He must have let McGonagall know," replied Percy.

Charlie nodded in thanks. He'd found some work involving the setting up of dragon camps for those that were used in the war. But he was still waiting on Ministry approval to come through before he could start working in England. He momentarily cursed the need for papers to be signed and shuffled, but he knew the Ministry had to be careful to do everything by the book. Kingsley was facing a fair amount of criticism at the moment. The media were taking every opportunity they could to hold the Ministry accountable for all the problems wizards were now faced with; and there many of them. Everything from the damaged floo network to war orphans was somehow made out to be Shacklebolt's fault. It was almost as if they believed that the outcome of the war had been his doing.

"Yeees," Ron finally replied to Harry as he got to the end of his first letter, "Sounds alright, if I've got the time I mean," he said distractedly. Before Harry could ask what he meant, Ron had picked up his second piece of parchment. Harry did the same.

_Dear Mr Potter,_

_I am pleased to inform you that you will still have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry should you choose to accept. Due to the disruptive nature of the previous academic year a number of changes have had to be made to school policies. The upcoming school year shall be conducted differently to usual. _

_Whilst the first years shall progress with their education as usual it has been decided that it is in the best interest of existing pupils to repeat the previous year. However, we are unable to accommodate such a large number of students. For this reason we have decided that sixth and seventh graders are mature enough to continue their education through correspondence. _

_Please, let us know if you wish to accept your place._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall (Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

"Getting my NEWTS without any teachers breathing down my neck? Sounds good to me," Ron exclaimed.

"That's not a good thing Ron," scolded Hermione as Mrs Weasley nodded her agreement, "It means we've got to become more responsible for ourselves. We'll have to actually make an effort to learn things on our own because there's no one here to teach it to us. I imagine they'll be sending us subject packages that we'll have to go through ourselves and then probably submit our essays through mail. But I wonder how they'll mark us on practical use of magic?"

"That's not the worst thing about this Hermione," Ginny said.

"Oh Ginny, don't be so sure about that. It's very easy to slack off when nobody is here to monitor your progress", replied Hermione.

"That's not what she means," Harry interjected sadly, "she means that we'll be learning at Hogwarts, without ever actually stepping foot in it."

"Exactly," Ginny nodded sadly, "This was meant to be my last year, but I won't be able to see my friends, or poke fun at Trelawney, or dodge Peeves in the corridors; there won't be any Hogsmeade weekends, I won't see pumpkins in the Great Hall at Halloween, there'll be no Hagrid towing trees bigger than himself at Christmas time".

"Oh of course Ginny, I'm sorry this was your last year," Hermione nodded in understanding.

"I'll take you to Hogsmeade, Gin. We could meet Luna and Neville there if you'd like," Harry said in an effort to cheer her up. While he was disappointed that he had missed out his seventh year too, he knew it would be particularly upsetting for Ginny because even in death Voldemort was managing to greatly disrupt their lives. She smiled sweetly up at him, and pecked him on the cheek.

"Oh, gross! Ginny, I may approve but do I have to see that? I mean I'm eating here," cried Ron in disgust.

"Oh please, what about you and Hermione the other morning. Harry had his eyes shut so tight afterward, it was like he was trying to glue them permanently closed," Ginny fired back, making Ron shut up.

"What's this now?" asked Charlie.

"Nothing," mumbled Ron as Charlie considered him. "Right well," continued Ron standing up, "we'd better send off our replies now".

"Yes, we'd better send our replies through Pigwidgeon," Hermione said, as the tawny brown owl took off in response. "We can send our Hogwarts acceptances now I suppose, but we still have to decide on what dates we want to volunteer for."

"Well," Harry though aloud, "we could pack tomorrow and be at Hogwarts the next day".

"How about we take today to decide, and we can send our replies in the evening?" suggested Ginny as she turned to Hermione.

"Sounds, alright," agreed Ron, "in the meantime how about a game of Quidditch?"

"I'm game," interrupted Charlie as Percy and Mr Weasley said their goodbyes and left for the Ministry.

"Okay, but I'm only playing for a little while," said Ginny. "I've got to start studying for my apparition test."

"That's months away," cried Ron.

"Well with that attitude it's no wonder you failed yours," retorted Ginny as she led the way to the shed to grab the brooms.

"Right," said Ron as he mounted his Cleansweep Eleven, "for that little comment, I am going to wipe the floor with you this game".

Ginny laughed back, "Just you try" and she flew after him towards the field.

"I'm serious Ginny. I'm not going to go easy on you like I usually do, if you were smart you'd be a bit worried now," said Ron confidently.

A dangerous look came into Ginny's eyes, "You are so full of excuses. Just because my team always wins more games than yours you have to make up some story about going easy on me. Well Ron, give it your best shot today and we'll see who the better player is".

Hermione cast a worried glance in Harry's direction and he smiled reassuringly as he too mounted his broom.

"Don't worry Hermione, if worse comes to worse we'll just watch them tear each other to pieces. But it looks as if I might have to sit out and referee, just in case" said Charlie as he handed her a broom.

"I've never understood siblings," she replied.

A few hours later, Mrs Weasley interrupted a particularly vicious verbal match between Ron, Ginny and Charlie about the legality of a move Ginny had just tried. Thankfully they stopped when they saw the food and immediately began eating the plateful of chicken and ham sandwiches, the fight seemingly forgotten. Afterward Charlie left to visit George while Ginny headed back inside to _A Comprehensive Guide to Apparition_, which Hermione had lent to her.

Harry lay in the grass enjoying the sun on his face. Hermione had summoned a book and Ron was clipping some stray twigs from his broom with Harry's broom clippers. They remained silent and at ease until Hermione let out a sigh and placed her book in the grass with a loud thump.

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"I have to tell you something. Actually we, that is Ron and I," Hermione cast a look in Ron's direction, but he had suddenly become very interested in reshining his broom handle, "...we have something we need to tell you".

Harry leaned back on one elbow and looked between his two friends, "Okay" he waited for Hermione to continue.

"Well, you already know how I've been waiting on an international apparition pass so that I can go to my parents in Australia. But the thing is I've become fed up with waiting. I mean there are so many apparition check points down at the moment, that even if the ministry granted me a pass soon I'm sure I'd have to wait another few months for the apparition connection between England and Australia to safely open up again," she said without drawing breath.

She looked at Ron as if waiting for him to take over explaining. When he gave no sign that he would she let out a breath of annoyance and continued, "Well Ron had an idea last night. He said that maybe we should take an aeroplane, well actually he called it a "teleplane". I think he had the television and the aeroplane mixed up. Of course it's confusing because aeroplanes do have those in flight entertainment systems and-"

"Hermione, what is your point?" Harry asked.

"Oh right, sorry. Well Ron and I, we've decided that tomorrow we're going to go back to my parents place to collect some muggle money that I had saved up when I was young. Then we'll head over to London airport and catch the first plane that leaves for Australia."

"Well that's great Hermione. You'll have your parents home much quicker that way. Good thinking Ron," Harry praised.

"Yes, well. It's just that it's been a year since I've seen my parents and I'll want to spend some time with them of course. But I also want Ron to spend some time with them too. I'd really love it if they could get to know him. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I just want to get away from England for a few months. You know, take some time off from what's been happening in here and enjoy time with my family for a bit". It wasn't lost on Harry that Hermione had just referred to Ron as family. "We've decided that we'll stay there for a few months. So you see we can't go and help at Hogwarts this summer."

Harry raised an eyebrow at Hermione, "you aren't going to help rebuild Hogwarts?"

"Of course we'll help, just not yet," she replied. "Anyway we won't be missing out on much, at the moment they're only working on classrooms and that sort of thing. It'll take much longer for other parts of the castle to be fixed up so we'll still have a chance to help out then".

Ron spoke for the first time, "Look Harry, if you want we can come back sooner. If you need us to be here for you, we will. All you have to do is tell us".

"Don't be ridiculous. Do you think I can't take care of myself or something? You both should go," he nodded.

"Oh of course not, Harry. I guess I'm just worried about leaving you after all we've been through this last year. I've gotten so used to fearing you'll be hurt and worrying about our safety", Hermione replied as Ron held her hand reassuringly.

Harry was momentarily touched before reminding her, "There's nothing to worry about anymore, Hermione".

Hermione smiled back, but her head quirked sideways as if she wasn't quite sure whether or not she was convinced.

Later that evening Hermione had just finished saying goodbye to the rest of the Weasley's before she went to find Ginny in her room. The two girls embraced each other.

"I'll miss you Ginny. Look after Harry won't you?" Hermione asked already knowing that Ginny would but still somewhat worried for him.

"I'll miss you too Hermione and don't worry I will" she assured her. "Oh and keep my oaf of a brother in line won't you?" she joked causing Hermione to giggle back.

A few minutes later she was in Ron's arms. She'd hugged Harry goodbye before he left them alone for the night.

"I hope everything will be ok while we're gone," she whispered to Ron.

"Of course it will," Ron replied kindly.

"But how do you know? I mean we've all just lived through a war. That sort of thing doesn't just go away leaving fountains of butterbeer behind."

"Mmm," sighed Ron, "I sure could go for a Butterbeer right now".

"Ron Weasley, you are a pillock".

"Yeah, but I'm the pillock that you love," he grinned.

"Can't argue with that," she grinned back, giving him a quick kiss goodnight.

The next morning they left before anyone else in The Burrow had woken up.

_Otters and Terriers: Ron's Patronus is a Jack Russell Terrier, known for chasing Otters. Hermione's patronus is an otter, which are part of the weasel family._

**What form would YOUR PATRONUS take? In the next chapter I'd like to have something more to share.**

**Review, it's a new full on flavour experience.**


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